New Publication Announcement - 'On Music' of

Hello All,

I am excited to announce the publication of an article I have been working on over the past two years which was recently published in a special issue of Performance Research, titled 'On Music'.

The diversity of topics the issue addresses is unprecedented with some fascinating articles on improvisation. Murphy McCaleb's article exploiting the practical constraints of latency and performing in networked ensembles for composition, is well worth the read, as is Maria Sappho's fascinating article insisting that performance practice never be separated from social context - a timely reminder that I think will be the theme of 2026 for me.

My article was a long time coming and I thoroughly enjoyed working with the editors Tom Armstrong, Giorgia Volioti, and Christopher Wiley. Go check my article out here!

Its origins were in a conference paper I gave on nineteenth-century popular music in Britain and Ireland at the Ninth-Annual Conference in Historical Performance at Indiana University which I regrettably had to attend online in 2024.

The crux of my argument was that improvisation in the nineteenth century was indelibly infused with popular tastes, and that to learn to improvise in that style today, requires immersing oneself in this popular repertoire. Echoing Sappho's insistence that artistic practice is inseparable from social context, I argue that to improvise in any style requires a kind of social engagement that goes beyond 'learning the tunes and the idioms'. It requires a type of engagement that can, and historically has been, deeply entrenched in contemporary politics and social upheaval. I will pick this point up in another article I have been working on which will hopefully be published this year if the reviewers are in my favour!

In the meantime, at a time of deep political unrest and the rise of fascism in the US, this special issue reminds me to always lean into those spaces where artistic practice and sociopolitical practice overlap. This is a new years resolution worth reminding oneself of throughout the year.

Happy new years all!